As Delhi Police continues to unravel the dubious links of Icchadhari Swami Bhiamanand alias Shiv Murti Dwivedi, it has stumbled upon the fact that Dwivedi was running his sex racket from two government flats allotted to senior government officials in R.K. Puram area, reports Asian Age.
Sources said Dwivedi had set up an ashram in one of these flats, adjoining a senior CBI official's residence in R.K. Puram sector one, where devotees used to meet him.
Another flat rented by Dwivedi is located in Muhammadpur area, adjoining R.K. Puram. A girl, who was arrested in the scam lives in Muhammadpur area of R.K. Puram. Another Delhi girl who was arrested with Dwivedi lived in R.K. Puram sector 5.
A serving member of Parliament and a former Delhi legislator are believed to have "aided" the Swami, Shiv Murti Dwivedi, in his flourishing sex trade with the police examining options of questioning these persons to unravel the multi-crore sex scam which has been receiving funds worth crores from a US- based NGO, highly placed official sources said.
"The flats in R.K. Puram are mostly occupied by senior Central government employees and the involve- ment of an MP (not from Delhi) and a former Delhi legislator is coming to fore who may have aided Dwivedi in getting these flats. During interrogation, Dwivedi claimed that he was in constant touch with these persons, but we are investigating whether these persons had any role in the scam," the source said.
"Two girls arrested along with him lived in R.K. Puram area. It is highly likely that he was carrying out his flesh trade from these flats," the sources said. Six girls, three from Delhi, one each from West Bengal, Haryana and Punjab were arrested along with Dwivedi and his associate Praveen, a resident of Jhajjar, Haryana.
Another flat rented by Dwivedi is located in Muhammadpur area, adjoining R.K. Puram, sources said.
"A girl, who was arrested in the scam lives in Muhammadpur area of R.K. Puram. Another Delhi girl who was arrested with Dwivedi lived in R.K. Puram sector 5. Praveen joined his trade in 2008 before which he was earning his living as an auto driver. The Honda City car recovered from Dwivedi is registered in the name of Praveen," the sources revealed.
"Considering all these facts, it is highly likely that R.K. Puram was one of the areas from where Dwivedi operated the scam. The two flats in the area were frequented by high-profile people and the rush of devotees continued at these places late into the nights. Dwivedi is being ques- tioned on this and more facts are likely to emerge in the case," the source added.
Sources told Asian Age that Dwivedi was arrested following a tip-off from intelligence agencies about a suspicious transaction estimated to be in hundreds of crores of rupees which was carried out from US into different accounts held by Dwivedi.
A diary recovered from the swami shows he owned assets worth nearly Rs 2,500 crores. The diary lists names of nearly 600 call girls., a source told the Hindi newspaper Nai Dunia. Police is on the lookout of five hawala operators, three of whom stay in Old Delhi and the remaining two in South Delhi, the report said.
Most of the money that the swami got from foreign sources were through hawala transactions, the report said. Police is also on the lookout of a renowned tour operator in Delhi, who had a fleet of luxury vehicles to ferry the foreign sex workers outside Delhi. Police also recovered several phone numbers of call girls from the Swami's diary, but all these phone numbers are no longer operative.
The swami was maintaining a duty chart along with weekly off days for his retinue of sex workers. Aged 39, he is married, his wife's name is Munni Devi who stays with the swami's parents in their paternal village. They have a 13-year-old daughter who is studying in a reputed school in Maharashtra. The swami has three brothers and three sisters. The paternal village address : Village Chamroha, Manikpur Tehsil, Dist Chitrakoot, UP.
Villagers told mediamen that whenever the swami used to visit their village, several rich persons wearing suits used to come with foreign national girls in luxury cars at night, and the baba used to make arrangements for their stay. The swami had nearly 10 acres of village land. There was a complaint of dowry torture pending against the swami and his father Bacha Lal Dwivedi, after the wife of the swami's elder brother died.
The swami had seven names : (1) Shiv Murat Dwivedi (2) Shiva (3) Rajiv Ranjan Dwivedi (4) Bhimanand Maharaj (5) Shiv Baba (6) Icchadhari Baba (7) Shiveshwar Nath.
The most astonishing fact revealed about the swami was that even his closest associate, who used to work as an auto driver, was rolling in money, police said, Indian Express reported.
The swami took good care of the people loyal to him. Police said Dwivedi elevated the financial standing of his second-in-command, Parveen Kumar, also arrested along with him on February 25.
Sources said Kumar, a native of Jhajjar in Haryana, would drive an auto-rickshaw till 2008. Two years after he started working with Dwivedi, Kumar drove a Honda City — it was seized by the police during his arrest.
“He was Dwivedi's face in the racket. He was in charge of the logistics; he also made and finalised the deals. Whenever Dwivedi was busy giving sermons, Kumar took charge of the racket,” a senior police officer said.
A police team, meanwhile, recovered a rifle and other weapons purportedly belonging to Dwivedi from his residence in Chitrakoot, Uttar Pradesh, after a raid on Friday. Sources said it also came to light during the raid that Dwivedi's personal bodyguards carried firearms.
“We first need to assess and seize his property. He has many areas within the Capital where he functioned. We need to investigate whether the house owners knew about his operations,” a senior police officer said.
The police are, meanwhile, also probing the allegations made by the father of a Jaipur-based girl who said Dwivedi was behind the abduction of his daughter. The 22-year-old woman is missing since December 23 last year.
